Some boast of riches, and estates,
Of chariots, and of steeds,
Of ships that sail by wind or steam,
And some of mighty deeds:
But all the treasure I desire,
In cities, or alone,
Is peace of conscience, health of mind,
And hewing at a stone!
Our kings, and nobles, dukes and lords,
Whose splendid castles rise,
Whose palaces, and lofty towers,
Reach almost to the skies;
Of Greece and Corinth make their boast,
Yet are oblig’d to own,
Some honour due, from first to last,
To those who hew the stone!
In every town, in modern days,
Some system new prevails,
Men deviate from former ways,
The mason’s art now fails:
Yet masons will be masons still,
And will each other own,
And smile at all attempts of skill
To imitate a stone!
The work will stand, and not disgrace,
The master-builder’s plan,
Defying rain, and tempests fierce,
For twice the age of man!
With all their compositions curl’d,
And round their columns thrown,
The grandest temple in the world,
We read was built of stone!
When this fair earth at first arose,
And man was made upright,
Him, the great God of Heaven chose,
And view’d him with delight.
Had he thus stood, (’tis thought by some,)
And in God’s image shone,
It never would have been our doom,
To hew and polish stone.
But man soon fell, by mortal sin,
And since the deed is done,
And we its captives long have been,
Th’ effect we cannot shun:
Yet though man from perfection fell,
And sin did make him groan,
The Lord in Zion laid for him,
“A sure foundation stone!”
When men began to multiply,
And sin defil’d the heart,
The Lord look’d down with pitying eye,
With man he could not part.
The sun by day, and moon by night,
And twinkling stars that shone,
He made them all rejoice, and sing,
Of “Christ, the corner stone!”
Whoe’er upon this stone shall fall,
Shall surely broken be,
Yet he may still be heal’d again,
And be from sin set free:
But he on whom this stone shall fall,
Shall see the Almighty’s frown;
He shall be crush’d as powder small,
By this stupendous stone!
Moses, that mighty man of God,
Who Israel’s flock did lead,
Whose feet the path of duty trod,
And oft for them did plead,
In conversation with the Lord,
His face with glory shone,
And from awful Sinai bore,
The “Tables made of stone!”
But lo, revolting Israel’s seed,
In Horeb, as we’re told,
Had during Moses’ absence made,
A calf of molten gold;
Such folly made his griev’d heart ache,
With pangs till then unknown,
And down he threw at once, and brake
The “Tables made of stone!”